I have to be honest with you: This isn't really archaic art. It's just some random stuff I started to draw one day, in the middle of a boring class. It's only that. And then again it's more than that. At first I started doing quick sketches of my teacher or the guys sitting next to me. And after doing this for almost a year I got better at it. I improved. They say practice will often cause that... a certain improvement. If that's the case, I'll continue holding pens and nibs.

March 12, 2013

Avengers: the Children’s Crusade - Allan Heinberg & Jim Cheung

Jim Cheung

Is tolerance one of your virtues? Certainly, judging those who are closest to me I’ve seen many intolerant people. Most of them are intolerant in a passive-aggressive way, others are actively intolerant. But at what point intolerance turns into violence?In the first issue of Avengers: the Children’s Crusade, the Young Avengers fight against the Sons of the Serpent, a gang of white supremacists who also happen to hate gays and lesbians, so obviously they feel forced to exterminate a group that embraces diversity more than anything else: besides a black hero we also have an openly gay couple. Allan Heinberg gives us a particularly suggestive scene: Hulkling, in jest, kisses the leader of the Sons of the Serpent and the man tells him he will burn in hell for that. The question, as posed by Hulkling, should be asked more often: violence is OK, but kissing someone of your own sex guarantees eternal damnation?In a decisive moment of the battle, Wiccan unleashes all his power. And that is power enough to neutralize all the criminals and more. After this, the Avengers are concerned about the young mage. And he’s swiftly sent to Avengers Tower, allegedly for his own protection. Obviously, his boyfriend accompanies him, and that’s when one of the funniest scenes I’ve read in a Marvel comic takes place. Wiccan and Hulkling are about to kiss in the Avengers headquarter, perhaps fulfilling the ultimate fanboy fantasy, but before reaching the anticipated nerdgasm, they’re interrupted by Speed and the rest of the Young Avengers. Billy Kaplan and Tommy Shepherd are twin brothers, one of them is a wizard and the other is a speedster, just like Wanda Maximoff (Scarlet Witch) and Pietro Maximoff (Quicksilver). All of this seems to prove the theory that they are Magneto’s grandsons, and when the master of magnetism arrives he accepts the possibility of being their grandfather. Together, they all go to Mount Wundagore, in Transia. This is the first step in the search for the Scarlet Witch, a quest that will bring them all to Latveria, the kingdom of Dr. Doom. There, Billy Kaplan decides it’s time for a little magical cross-dress and disguises himself as Wanda Maximoff, although he admits: “For the record, I’m not the sort of person who enjoys dressing up in his mother’s clothes”. Inside Doom’s castle, he finds Wanda Maximoff, who he believes to be his mother, but the woman has lost all her memories and also her mystic energies. When the Young Avengers try to rescue Wiccan and the former Scarlet Witch, Dr. Doom attacks them fiercely. And just in the nick of time, Nathaniel (Iron Lad) arrives and transports them in time.

Jim Cheung & Alan Davis

As we can remember, in the original Young Avengers series, it was Iron Lad who traveled back in time to reunite a group of teenaged heroes and to prevent himself from turning into Kang the Conqueror, one of the Avengers greatest villains. In the Children’s Crusade Young Avengers, we get a very meaningful story about the early days of this group of underage heroes. As we saw back in 2004, the Young Avengers started as an exclusively male team, just like many other juvenile groups (Teen Titans, Young Justice, etc.). Heinberg shows how they are all nerds, geeks and above all true fanboys. Patriot has never been out on a date, Iron Lad has never had any luck with the girls, in the past or in the future, and the only guys who are getting some action are Wiccan (back then still called Asgardian) and Hulkling. As the four youngsters spend the night together, they run into Electro, a well-known Spider-Man enemy. They fight against him but they realize that they’re seriously outclassed, they might be stronger and more powerful, but their lack of training, focus and discipline shows. They get their asses kicked, just like they did on the first issue of Young Avengers. Proving, once again, that they are still inexpert and clumsy just like any other teenager, and that even with the best of intentions they’re likely to mess up big time. I think this is an aspect that most writers forget when they write about young heroes. They’re supposed to make mistakes, after all they’re still learning. Iron Lad almost gets killed in the battle, and Billy gives him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, instead of his magic it’s only thanks to his CPR abilities that the kid from the future is saved. And it is because of that debt that Iron Lad returns to the past, at the exact instant in which Billy’s life is at stake.

100% dynamism and enery / 100% energía y dinamismo

The first four issues of “Avengers: the Children’s Crusade” are illustrated by the extraordinary Jim Cheung, who was also in charge of the art in the original series. Cheung’s art is absolutely beautiful but there is a special reason why he excels in this series: he knows how to portray young people in a vital and refreshing way. With his spectacular pin-up pages, his extraordinary covers and his revolutionary designs, Cheung reinforces the concept of youth. If we look at the splash page, for instance, we get an image so striking that could serve as poster, as a cover or both. But at the same time, Cheung knows how to highlight the youthfulness of these characters, and shows us their most intimate aspects with a candor and a passion that many artists would fail to acquire. Such is the case of the peaceful and romantic moment between Billy and Teddy, inside Avengers HQ: we see the two boys touching each other tenderly, and everything about them feels real. Their physical proximity between is as natural as the air they breathe, and that is made evident when we see them sleeping together in the same bed. Children’s Crusade Young Avengers is illustrated by legendary British artist Alan Davis, who does a superb job showing us the first incarnation of this group of teenaged heroes. There is a particularly endearing moment, when Billy delicately touches Nathaniel before giving him the “kiss of life”. Nathaniel’s eyes, as he wakes up, are full of gratitude. And, as readers, we should be grateful for the best limited series Marvel has published in the past couple of years.________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

About Me

Comic books are my passion. They are as precious to me as the oxygen I breathe, and perhaps even more. The 9th art has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. And through the years, this passion kept on increasing, thus turning me into an active participant. I started as a reader and later on I became a full-fledged writer and artist. Indeed I’ve found the perfect way to have twice as much pleasure when it comes to comics: I can either read them or write and draw them. And I absolutely love doing both!